Pictured above: Purity Managing Director, Paul Halsey (L)
receives the SIBA award for Best Use of Social Media.
Bromsgrove-based marketing communications agency, Gough Allen
Stanley, has helped its client, Purity Brewing Co., win a social
media award at the Society of Independent Brewers' (SIBA) Brewing
Business Awards 2009.
Purity picked up the award for 'Best Use of Electronic Media'
for a campaign devised by Gough Allen Stanley, which SIBA judges
praised as being 'a fresh, engaging and effective social media
strategy using Twitter and Facebook'.
By sharing company and industry information, communicating
directly with its customers and ale enthusiasts, as well as holding
monthly prize draws, Purity's twitter account, @purityale, has
generated over 370 followers since June 2009.
The agency has also helped Purity create a Facebook fan page for
UBU, the brewery's inspirational dog, who lent his name to Pure
UBU, one of Purity's award-winning ales.
UBU's latest Facebook activities have included an ugly dog
competition, with fans uploading photographs of their ugly canines
in an attempt to win a range of Purity merchandise.
As a result of the campaign, Purity's profile has been raised
amongst beer writers, as well as real ale fans across the UK and
sales have doubled in the past year.
Paul Halsey, Purity's Managing Director, said: "Purity is a
fresh, funky and innovative brand, which is why we wanted to
replicate this in our social media marketing campaign. Gough Allen
Stanley has successfully devised and executed a strategy that has
spread the Purity brand and generated a large following of fans,
with whom we are interacting on a daily basis."
Gough Allen Stanley has recently developed a dedicated social
media team, who are specialists in this field, and is currently
tweeting for Purity, Drayton Manor Theme Park and for the Gough
itself as @GoughPR. All three twitter accounts have been entered
into Goldentweets, the first awards ceremony of its kind.
Michelle Simpson, Account Director and social media specialist
at the agency, said: "At Gough Allen Stanley we pride ourselves on
reaching our clients' markets using both traditional and emerging
marketing techniques. Social media is here to stay and is
transforming the way in which businesses reach and communicate with
consumers. We can now offer our clients direct, immediate and
two-way communication with their target audiences, improving brand
reputation and increasing sales through effective strategies, which
recognise the importance of new media systems and the fragmented
nature of their social uses."